The US government just parked roughly $288 million worth of seized Bitcoin and Ether at Coinbase Prime, the exchange’s institutional custody arm. The transfer, recorded by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence around July 13, doesn’t necessarily mean Uncle Sam is about to dump tokens on the open market.
Where the money came from
The $288 million in digital assets traces back to several criminal forfeiture cases. Among them are cases involving Brian Krewson and Ryan Farace, linked to drug trafficking and money laundering. A separate chunk originates from the 2017 seizure of BTC-e, the Russian-linked exchange that was shut down by US authorities for facilitating billions in illicit transactions.
A smaller transfer of 2.44 BTC was also logged alongside the main haul.
This isn’t the first time seized crypto has made its way to Coinbase Prime in recent months. In April 2026, approximately $606,000 in BTC tied to the Bitfinex hack landed at the platform. Alameda-linked funds followed in June.
